Football's emergence from a revolution - Part 2

Imagine you were a sporting icon in your country, respected and adored. One fine day, you find your world upside down after being arrested by the police and labelled a ‘traitor’ by the media. How would it feel? That’s how Bahraini footballer Mohammed Sayed Adnan felt after going through a similar experience last year.

The Arab Spring-inspired uprising in Bahrain had started to attract people from all walks of life to its fight. It was only a matter of time until footballers became involved. When players like Adnan and A’ala Hubail appeared at a protest rally, they were arrested and later released, but the charges were not dropped. They were expelled from the national team. There was an explosion of rage directed at the players from the state-controlled media. They were telephoned by TV channels, whose guests blasted them on air, questioning their attitude and their apparent disloyalty to the country. For those of us living in democratic countries, this may seem preposterous, but for an autocratic regime like Bahrain, this is normal. As a sportsperson, you are expected to be loyal to the regime and to toe their line, no matter what happens. If you do anything contrary to what is expected, you can be hounded by the media, to the extent that some people actually start believing that you are a ‘traitor’.

In an uprising where a Shia-dominated opposition faced a Sunni monarchy, sectarian lines were fiercely drawn across the country. And so, when Shia players like Adnan and Hubail got involved, it was a turn for the worse.

Hubail (left) and Adnan at a protest rally

Adnan, who later moved to Australia, said:

“My cousin is dead. He received one bullet in his head – I started thinking, ‘Why don’t we do something to stop this killing?’ But I didn’t go there to say: ‘Because you killed my cousin, I go to protest’. I go because we don’t want any problems with each other. It doesn’t matter – Sunni, Shia, Christian – we don’t care. We just want to live as before and respect everyone. My life was really good there. Everyone respected me – the police, the people. I can’t walk in the mall or city centre without signing for someone. [Now] some of them hate me, some of them still love me.”

It is ironic that the national football team has to suffer in the midst of this crisis. It is ironic because the national team is the very institution that united an otherwise disunited population. The team featured Shias and Sunnis playing together under one flag, bringing glory to the country. And now the team was in disarray after many of its stars were stripped of their national colours.

Bahrain protests

Many may ask why. It is alleged that Hubail, a trained paramedic, was arrested because of his role in treating injured protesters. I was left bewildered after hearing the news. They say sports should not mix with politics and vice-versa, but when they say that, they forget a very important point. Even sportspeople have hearts; they are human beings too. One can’t expect them to sit and watch silently as a crisis unfolds around them.

In the end, it all comes down to our ability to adjust with and tolerate differing opinions. The inability to do so has seen Bahrain descend into unprecedented chaos, and football is just another of its victims.